Before doing some research on vegetarian recipes involving brining, I had only ever heard of brining involving meat, but I didn't really want to brine meat for this challenge. Bon Appetit had a really intriguing recipe for grilled brined vegetables, and once I saw that, I knew I had to try it.
Basically, you combine water (recipe said 3 cups, we used more) with 2 bay leaves, 10 black peppercorns, a cup of rice vinegar, 1/4 cup of sugar, a pinch of red pepper flakes, and 2 tbsp of kosher salt, bring it to a boil, and then add the vegetables. I used 2 pounds of carrots, and boiled them for about 20 minutes until they were soft. The recipe said 8-10 minutes, but they were still pretty hard at that point, so I just kept going in 5 minute intervals. After that, you pat the carrots dry, put them in a large bowl, and coat them with olive oil, and then grill them.
The recipe was pretty simple, and the resulting carrots were soft but also full of flavor. We liked them, and it was nice to have a carrot recipe that tasted different from your usual carrots because of the brine. We liked them enough to make them again for family Thanksgiving. I don't know if I used less water or what, but they turned out super salty the second time, almost inedibly salty. I do like this brining idea, but if I'm going to make it again, it might take some tinkering.
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